Quality of service implementations for separating user plane

ABSTRACT

Described are techniques for providing, a quality of service (QoS) update from a control plane of a base station to a user plane of the base station based on a QoS event, wherein the QoS update includes information indicative of a mapping between a QoS flow and corresponding radio resources for user data transmission, storing, at the user plane, the mapping between the QoS flow and the radio resources, receiving, at the user plane, a downstream data packet of the QoS flow from a core network, and transmitting the downstream data packet in a downlink direction using the corresponding radio resources.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document is a continuation of and claims benefit of priorityto U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/474,494, filed Sep. 14, 2021,which is a divisional of and claims benefit of priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/783,114, filed Feb. 5, 2020 and is now U.S. Pat.No. 11,146,984, which is a continuation of International PatentApplication No. PCT/CN2017/096609, filed on Aug. 9, 2017. The entirecontent of the before-mentioned patent applications is incorporated byreference as part of the disclosure of this application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document relates to systems, devices and techniques for wirelesscommunications.

BACKGROUND

Efforts are currently underway to define next generation wirelesscommunication networks that provide greater deployment flexibility,support for a multitude of devices and services and differenttechnologies for efficient bandwidth utilization. For better bandwidthutilizations, various techniques, including new ways to provide higherquality of service, are being discussed.

SUMMARY

This document describes technologies, among other things, for providingquality of service to data flows in a network architecture in which userplane and control plane are logically separated from each other.

In one example aspect, a method of wireless communication is disclosed.The method includes providing, a quality of service (QoS) update from acontrol plane of a base station to a user plane of the base stationbased on a QoS event, wherein the QoS update includes informationindicative of a mapping between a QoS flow and corresponding radioresources for user data transmission, storing, at the user plane, themapping between the QoS flow and the radio resources, receiving, at theuser plane, a downstream data packet of the QoS flow from a corenetwork, and transmitting the downstream data packet in a downlinkdirection using the corresponding radio resources.

In another example aspect, another method of wireless communication isdisclosed. The method includes providing, a quality of service (QoS)update from a control plane of a base station to a user plane of thebase station based on a QoS event, wherein the QoS update includesinformation identifying one or more QoS flows that are symmetric, suchthat a downlink QoS parameter for the one or more QoS flows isdeterminable for a corresponding uplink information, storing, at theuser plane, identities of the one or more QoS flows that are symmetric,receiving, at the user plane, a downstream data packet of a given QoSflow from a core network, and transmitting the downstream data packet ina downlink direction using the corresponding radio resources.

In yet another example aspect, a method of wireless communication isdisclosed. The method includes receiving, at a base station, a datapacket for downstream transmission from a core network, wherein the datapacket includes a quality of service flow indicator, obtaining, by theuser plane of the base station, from a control plane of the basestation, a mapping between the quality of service flow indicator and aradio resource for downstream transmission, and transmitting the datapacket in a downstream direction using the mapping obtained from thecontrol plane.

In yet another example aspect, a disclosed method of wirelesscommunication includes receiving, at a base station, on an uplink radioresource, a data packet for upstream transmission from a user equipment,wherein the data packet includes a quality of service flow indicator,obtaining, by the user plane, from a control plane of the base station,a mapping between the quality of service flow indicator and the uplinkradio resource and associating, for a next data packet received on theuplink radio resource, a quality of service flow indicated by thequality of service flow indicator.

In yet another aspect, a disclosed wireless communication methodincludes receiving, at a base station, on an uplink radio resource, adata packet for upstream transmission from a user equipment, wherein thedata packet includes a quality of service flow indicator, obtaining, bythe user plane, from a control plane of the base station, a mappingbetween the quality of service indicator and the uplink radio resource,wherein the mapping indicates that the mapping is of a symmetric type,and transmitting a message to the user equipment indicating that themapping is of the symmetric type.

In yet another example aspect, a wireless communications apparatuscomprising a processor is disclosed. The processor is configured toimplement a method described herein.

In another example aspect, the various techniques described herein maybe embodied as processor-executable code and stored on acomputer-readable program medium.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying attachments, the drawings, and the description below. Otherfeatures will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a base station configuration.

FIG. 2 shows an example of messages exchanged among user equipment, acontrol plane (CP) of a base station and a user plane (UP) of the basestation.

FIG. 3 shows an example of messages exchanged among user equipment, acontrol plane (CP) of a base station and a user plane (UP) of the basestation.

FIG. 4 shows an example of messages exchanged among user equipment, acontrol plane (CP) of a base station and a user plane (UP) of the basestation.

FIG. 5 shows an example of messages exchanged among user equipment, acontrol plane (CP) of a base station and a user plane (UP) of the basestation.

FIG. 6 shows an example of messages exchanged among user equipment, acontrol plane (CP) of a base station and a user plane (UP) of the basestation.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example wireless communication method.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example of a wireless communicationapparatus.

FIG. 13 shows an example wireless communications network.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the 4G (4 Generation) or LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobilecommunication systems, a data stream having the same QoS (Quality ofService) requirement is aggregated into a bearer, a radio access network(Radio Access Network, RAN) and the core network (Core Network, CN) onthe QoS processing is carried by the load. In the 4G system, the RANincludes an evolved Node B (eNB) and a User Equipment (UE). The networkbearer between the eNB and the core network interface with each other onthe S1 interface and the radio bearer communicates on the radiointerface between the eNB and the UE have one to one correspondence.

In the upcoming 5G system, the core network, base stations and UE areexpected to undergo several changes. A 5G base station is sometimescalled gNB (Next Generation Node B, next generation base station).Similar to the 4G system between the eNB X2 interface, the gNB interfaceon an interface called Xn. The interface between the gNB and the 5G corenetwork is called the NG interface. A 5G system is expected to use a newQoS mechanism. The radio interface on the radio bearer may use a DRB(Data Radio Bearer, data radio bearer), but there is no corresponding NGinterface on the network side, instead the concept of the PDU Session(Protocol Data Unit Session, Protocol Data Unit Session, and QoS Flow(Quality of Service Flow) is used. A UE can have multiple PDU sessions.A PDU session can contain multiple QoS flows. Multiple QoS flows of thesame PDU session can be mapped to the same DRB. The QoS flow ofdifferent PDU sessions cannot be mapped to the same DRB.

The new 5G QoS mechanism also introduced the NAS Reflective(Non-Access-Stratum Reflective) and AS Reflective (Access-StratumReflective) functions, mainly in order to save control overhead. The NASReflective is the user-facing way to complete the uplink direction SDF(Service Data Flow, service data flow) to the QoS flow mappingrelationship configuration, the AS Reflective is through the user planeto the way the UE completes the upstream direction QoS flow To the DRBmapping relationship.

In a 5G base station, a new protocol sublayer is introduced above thePDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) called SDAP (Service DataAdaptation Protocol) for QoS flow and DRB mapping (Mapping), etc. Insome embodiments, each PDU Session has an SDAP entity (Entity).

A 5G base station can be conceptually divided into CU (Central Unit) andDU (Distributed Unit). According to various embodiments, one basestation has one CU, a base station can have multiple DU, calledcentralized unit distribution unit separation (CU-DU Split).

The CU of 5G base station or a 5G base station can be conceptuallydivided into CP (Control Plane) and UP (User Plane). It is called CP-UPSplit, for the F1 interface. The interface between CP and UP is calledE1 interface, as shown in an example embodiment of FIG. 1 . ControlPlane includes, for example, Radio Resource Management (RRM), RadioResource Control (RRC) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol C-Plane(PDCP-C) function of a 5G base station. User Plane includes, forexample, Packet Data Convergence Protocol U-Plane (PDCP-U) function of a5G base station.

The present document provides multiple ways by which QoS can beimplemented in architectures such as the upcoming 5G networks. In someembodiments, the disclosed techniques can be implemented in a wirelesssystem architecture in which the control plane and the user plane arelogically separated, as described with respect to the 5G systems.Certain concepts from 5G architecture are used to describe variousembodiments only for the ease of understanding and the disclosedtechniques can be embodied in other communication networks also.

In some embodiments, to solve the above-discussed problems, a method forimplementing a new QoS mechanism is disclosed. Example embodiments 1 and2 described in the present document. The embodiments describeimplementing the QoS method in a 5G system in a scenario where thecontrol plane user plane is separated.

In some embodiments, the base station controls to send an update messageto the base station user plane so that the base station user plane knowsin time the flow of QoS Flow to the DRB (including the upstreamdirection and the downstream direction) and/or updates the base stationuser plane and which QoS flow needs to be performed NAS Reflective.

In some embodiments, the base station user plane stores information fromthe update message: QoS Flow to DRB mapping (including upstream anddownstream), and/or QoS Flow information that requires NAS Reflective.

In some embodiments, the base station user plane receives a downlinkpacket from the core network according to the latest downlink directionQoS Flow to DRB mapping relationship. The downlink packet may include aquality of service flow identity (QFI). The base station may use the QFIwhich DRB the packet should be mapped to when transmitting downstreamover the wireless interface. Alternatively or in addition the basestation may decide the mapping according to the rules of the stored NASReflective QoS Flow information, downlink data packets contained in theQFI, and determine whether the downlink packet in the wireless interfaceto send with QFI.

In some embodiments, when the base station user plane receives adownlink packet from the core network, the base station may performmapping according to the QoS flow corresponding to the QFI contained inthe downlink packet. When the corresponding downlink QoS flow to the DRBmapping relationship cannot be found on the base station user plane, Theuser plane sends a request message to the base station control plane torequest the base station control plane to determine the mappingrelationship of the QoS flow to the DRB in the downlink direction.

In some embodiments, the base station control plane determines themapping relationship of the associated QoS flow downstream to the DRB.The base station control plane responds to the response message. In someembodiments, the control plane may carry one or more downlink QoS flowto the DRB mapping relationships, as determined by the base stationcontrol plane. The base station control plane may optionally also carryone or more relevant DRB configuration information (for the base stationuser plane to establish the relevant DRB).

In some embodiments, the base station user plane stores information fromthe response message in the form of a downstream direction QoS Flow toDRB mapping.

In some embodiments, the base station user plane determines the DRB towhich the downstream packet should be mapped when the downlink packet isto be transmitted according to the latest downstream direction QoS Flowto the DRB mapping relationship for the downlink packets that have notyet been transmitted on the radio interface. If it is found that thecorresponding DRB has not been established, the corresponding DRB may beobtained, e.g., based on the configuration information of the DRB fromthe response message.

In some embodiments, when the base station user plane receives theuplink packet sent from the UE on a predetermined or default DRB(default DRB), the user plane checks whether the QoS flow of the QFIcontained in these uplink packets has the corresponding upstreamdirection QoS Flow to DRB mapping relationship on the base station userplane. If a correspondence is not found, the base station user planesends a request message to the base station control plane to request thebase station control plane to determine the upstream direction of theQoS flow to the DRB mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, the base station control plane determines themapping relation of the relevant QoS flow to the DRB and configures themapping relation of the relevant QoS flow to the DRB to the UE throughan upper layer message such as the RRC (Radio Resource Control) message,or the AS Reflective to configure the mapping of the QoS flow upstreamto the DRB to the UE.

In some embodiments, the base station controls the response message tocarry one or more upstream QoS flows to the DRB mapping relationshipdetermined by the base station control plane. When passing through theAS Reflective mode, it also carries an indication that AS Reflective isto be used.

When the AS Reflective mode is adopted, the base station user plane isinstructed to use AS Reflective. When the downstream packet is receivedfrom the core network, the corresponding downlink packet, e.g., thecorresponding QoS flow of the QFI contained in the downstream packetFlow, is made to be AS Reflective according to the indication in theresponse message. The QFI and AS Reflective bits are sent when the radiointerface is sent for the UE to generate the associated QoS flow to theDRB mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, the base station user plane stores the informationfrom the response message that includes the upstream direction QoS Flowto the DRB mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, when the base station user plane receives theupstream packet sent from the UE on the Default DRB, the QoS flow of theQFI included in the uplink packet can be found based on the latestupstream QoS flow to the DRB mapping relationship stored at the basestation. At the base station the user plane may have a correspondinguplink direction QoS Flow to the DRB mapping relationship. In this case,the base station user plane no longer has to send the request message tothe base station control plane.

In one advantageous aspect, the disclosed techniques can be used toimplement a new QoS mechanism in the 5G system can be implemented whenthere is control plane-user plane separation.

Several embodiments are described in the present document with referenceto the signal flow diagram examples in FIG. 2 to FIG. 6 .

Example Embodiment 1

With reference to FIG. 2 , the following operations may be performed.

Step 1.1: When the base station control plane receives the controlinformation about the network, such as the addition or deletion of QoSflow from the core network, or when the base station control planeremaps the mapping of the QoS Flow to the DRB, the base station provides(including uplink and downlink direction) an update status of the QoSflow to the DRB. The update message may carry the associated QoS flow inthe upstream direction and/or the downlink direction to the DRB. Theupdate message may include each mapping relationship includes QFI (QoSFlow ID, Quality of Service ID) and DRB ID (Data Radio Bearer ID).Alternatively, in some embodiments, the update message may only transmitvalues that have changed from a previously sent update.

Step 1.2: The base station user plane saves the information from theupdate message. This information includes QoS Flow to DRB mappingincluding mapping for both upstream and downstream directions.

In step 1.3, when the base station user plane receives a downlink packetfrom the core network, it is determined that the downlink packet shouldbe mapped to the radio interface, and a corresponding DRB, according tothe latest downstream direction QoS Flow to the DRB mapping relationshipand the QFI included in the downlink packet.

Step 1.4: The base station user plane sends the downlink packet to theUE on the corresponding DRB at the radio interface.

Example Embodiment 2

With reference to FIG. 3 , the following operations may be performed.

In step 2.1, when the base station control plane receives the controlinformation of the NAS Reflective from the core network about thecertain QoS flow, the base station controls to send the update messageto the base station user plane so that the base station user plane knowswhich QoS flows are to be NAS Reflective. The update message carries oneor more QFIs that can be used for QoS filtering for NAS Reflective.

Step 2.2: The base station user plane saves the information from theupdate message, including the QoS flow information of NAS Reflective.

Step 2.3: When the base station user plane receives the downlink packetfrom the core network, it searches the QoS information of the NASReflective according to the saved information and the QFI included inthe downlink packet to determine whether the downstream packet is tocarry the QFI. Specifically the user plane may determine whether the QFIcontained in the downstream packet is the QFI of the QoS flow that is tobe NAS Reflective. If not, the downstream packet is sent to the UE viathe radio interface, without QFI to save wireless resources. If so, QFIis used in the packet sent to the UE.

Step 2.4: The base station user plane sends a downlink packet with QFIor without QFI to the UE at the radio interface.

Example Embodiment 3

With reference to FIG. 4 , the following operations may be performed.

In step 3.1, when the base station user plane receives the downlinkpacket from the core network, it is found that there is no correspondingdownlink QoS flow to the DRB mapping relationship on the base stationuser plane according to the QoS flow corresponding to the QFI containedin the downlink packet. In this case, without additional information,there is no way to determine the downlink packet in the wirelessinterface to send to which DRB should be mapped. At this time, the basestation user plane sends a request message to the base station controlplane to request the base station control plane to determine the mappingof the QoS flow to the DRB in the downlink direction, and the requestmessage carries one or more QFI of the QoS flow that needs to determinethe mapping relationship to the DRB.

In step 3.2, the base station control plane determines the mappingrelationship of the related QoS flow to the DRB. To achieve this, thebase station control plane responds to the response message, carryingone or more downlink QoS flows to the DRB mapping relationshipdetermined by the base station control plane. The response canoptionally carry one or more related DRB configuration information (forthe base station user plane to establish the relevant DRB).

Step 3.3: The base station user plane saves the information from theresponse message, including the downstream direction QoS Flow to the DRBmapping relationship.

In step 3.4, the base station user plane determines the DRB to which thedownlink packet should be mapped when the downlink packet is transmittedaccording to the latest downlink QoS flow to the DRB mappingrelationship for the downlink packets that have not yet been transmittedon the radio interface. If it is found that the corresponding DRB hasnot been established, the corresponding DRB (based on the configurationinformation of the DRB from the response message) is established.

Step 3.5: The base station user plane sends the downlink packet to theUE on the corresponding DRB at the radio interface.

Example Embodiment 4

With reference to FIG. 5 , the following operations may be performed.

In step 4.1, when the base station user plane receives the uplink packetsent from the UE on a Default DRB (“Default DRB”), the user plane checkswhether the QoS flow corresponding to the QFI contained in the uplinkpacket has a corresponding uplink direction QoS Flow to DRB mappingavailable at the base station user plane.

Step 4.2, the base station user plane sends a request message to thebase station control plane to request the base station control plane todetermine the mapping relationship of the QoS flow to the DRB in theuplink direction. The request message includes one or more QoS flows forwhich the mapping relationship of the uplink direction to the DRB QFI isto be determined.

Step 4.3: The base station control plane determines the mappingrelationship between the uplink traffic direction QoS flow and the DRB.The base station control plane configures the mapping relation of therelevant QoS flow to the DRB through an RRC (Radio Resource Control)message.

Step 4.4: The base station control plane sends a response message thatcarries the mapping relationship of one or more upstream QoS flows tothe DRB, as determined by the base station control plane.

Step 4.5: The base station user plane saves the information from theresponse message, including the upstream direction QoS Flow to the DRBmapping relationship.

In step 4.6, when the base station user plane receives the uplink packettransmitted from the UE on the Default DRB, the base station user planecan find the QoS flow of the QFI contained in the uplink packetaccording to the latest upstream QoS flow to the DRB mappingrelationship has a corresponding uplink QoS mapping to the DRB on thebase station user plane, and the base station user plane no longer needsto send the request message to the base station control plane.

Example Embodiment 5

With reference to FIG. 6 , the following operations may be performed.

Step 5.1 and Step 5.2—same as in embodiment 4.

In step 5.3, the base station control plane determines the mappingrelationship of the relevant QoS flow to the DRB; the base stationcontrol plane sends a response message that carries one or more upstreamQoS flows to the DRB mapping relationship determined by the base stationcontrol plane and AS Reflective instructions.

Step 5.4: The base station user plane is instructed that AS Reflectiveis to be used. When the downlink packet from the core network isreceived, corresponding to the corresponding downlink packet (that is,the QFI corresponding to the downlink packet) indicates that the ASReflective is used, the QFI and AS Reflective bit is to be sent to theUE to generate the mapping of the associated uplink QoS flow to the DRB.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example wireless communication method 700.The method 700 may be implemented by a base station such as the gNB. Themethod 700 includes providing (702), a quality of service (QoS) updatefrom a control plane of a base station to a user plane of the basestation based on a QoS event, wherein the QoS update includesinformation indicative of a mapping between a QoS flow and correspondingradio resources for user data transmission. For example, in someembodiments, the QoS event may include receiving a notification from thecore network about addition or deletion of at least one QoS flow fromthe network. For example, in some embodiments, the QoS event includesremapping between QoS flows and radio resources.

The method 700 further includes storing (704), at the user plane, themapping between the QoS flow and the radio resources. The mapping may bestored in a memory in the form of a look-up table that is controlled bythe user plane. For example, only the user plane may be able to read orwrite to the look-up table.

The method 700 also includes receiving (706), at the user plane, adownstream data packet of the QoS flow from a core network. In variousembodiments, the communication from the core network may be received ona wired or wireless interface. The method 700 includes transmitting(708) the downstream data packet in a downlink direction using thecorresponding radio resources.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod 800. The method 800 includes providing (802), a quality ofservice (QoS) update from a control plane of a base station to a userplane of the base station based on a QoS event, wherein the QoS updateincludes information identifying one or more QoS flows that aresymmetric. A symmetric QoS flow may be one for which a downlink QoSparameter for the one or more QoS flows is determinable for acorresponding uplink information. For example, the NAS Reflectiveattribute defined in 5G may be a symmetric flow. The method 800 includesstoring, at the user plane, identities of the one or more QoS flows thatare symmetric. The identities may be stored in a memory access to whichis exclusively controlled by the user plane. The method 800 includesreceiving (806), at the user plane, a downstream data packet of a givenQoS flow from a core network. The method 800 includes transmitting (808)the downstream data packet in a downlink direction using thecorresponding radio resources.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod 900. At 902, a data packet for downstream transmission from acore network is received by a base station. The data packet may bereceived on a wired or a wireless communication connection. The datapacket includes a quality of service flow indicator. At 906, the userplane obtains a mapping between the quality of service flow indicatorand a radio resource for downstream transmission from a control plane ofthe base station. At 908, the user plane transmits the data packet in adownstream direction using the mapping obtained from the control plane.In some embodiments, the user plane may decide, based on the quality ofservice flow indicator that a mapping is to be established (e.g., whenno mapping is locally available at the user plane). The decision may bemade by looking up information stored in a memory local to the userplane. For example, read or write access to the memory may only beavailable through the user plane.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod 1000. At 1002, a base station receives, on an uplink radioresource, a data packet for upstream transmission from a user equipment.The data packet includes a quality of service flow indicator. At 1006,the user plane obtains a mapping between the quality of service flowindicator and an uplink radio resource from a control plane of the basestation. At 1008, the method 1000 includes associating, for a next datapacket received on the uplink radio resource, a quality of service flowindicated by the quality of service flow indicator. In some embodiments,the mapping between the quality of service flow indicator and the uplinkradio resource is obtained when the user plane determines that themapping is to be established, e.g., not available at the user plane.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example of another wireless communicationmethod 1100. The method 1100 includes receiving (1102), at a basestation, on an uplink radio resource, a data packet for upstreamtransmission from a user equipment, wherein the data packet includes aquality of service flow indicator. The method 1100 includes selectivelyobtaining (1106), by the user plane, from a control plane of the basestation, a mapping between the quality of service indicator and theuplink radio resource, wherein the mapping indicates that the mapping isof a symmetric type. The method 1100 includes transmitting (1108) amessage to the user equipment indicating that the mapping is of thesymmetric type. In some embodiments, the method 1100 includesdetermining that the mapping is to be established because ofnon-availability of the mapping at the user plane and, in response,obtaining the mapping from the control plane.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example implementation of a wirelesscommunication apparatus 1200. The methods 700, 800, 900, 1000, and 1100may be implemented by the apparatus 1200. In some embodiments, theapparatus 1200 may be a base station of a wireless network. Theapparatus 1200 includes one or more processors, e.g., processorelectronics 1210, transceiver circuitry 1215 and one or more antenna1220 for transmission and reception of wireless signals. The apparatus1200 may include memory 1205 that may be used to store data andinstructions used by the processor electronics 1210. The apparatus 1200may also include an additional network interface to a core network or anetwork operator's additional equipment. This additional networkinterface, not explicitly shown in FIG. 12 , may be wired (e.g., fiberor Ethernet) or wireless.

FIG. 13 depicts an example of a wireless communication system 1300 inwhich the various techniques described herein can be implemented. Thesystem 1300 includes a base station 1302 that may have a communicationconnection with core network (1312) and to a wireless communicationmedium 1304 to communicate with one or more user devices 1306. The userdevices 1306 could be smartphones, tablets, machine to machinecommunication devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and so on.

It will be appreciated that technique that provide the operation of dataflows managed by a base station that has a separate user plan and aseparate control plan are disclosed.

The disclosed and other embodiments, modules and the functionaloperations described in this document can be implemented in digitalelectronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware,including the structures disclosed in this document and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. The disclosedand other embodiments can be implemented as one or more computer programproducts, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructionsencoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to controlthe operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readablemedium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readablestorage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting amachine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or morethem. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them. A propagated signal is an artificially generated signal, e.g.,a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, thatis generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this document can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storingcomputer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatilememory, media and memory devices, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks;magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor andthe memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purposelogic circuitry.

While this document contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed orof what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specificto particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in thisdocument in the context of separate embodiments can also be implementedin combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features thatare described in the context of a single embodiment can also beimplemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitablesub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asub-combination or a variation of a sub-combination. Similarly, whileoperations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, thisshould not be understood as requiring that such operations be performedin the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that allillustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Only a few examples and implementations are disclosed. Variations,modifications, and enhancements to the described examples andimplementations and other implementations can be made based on what isdisclosed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless communication method, comprising:receiving, by a control plane of a base station from a user plane of thebase station, a request message that requests the control plane todetermine a mapping relationship between a quality of service (QoS) flowand a data radio bearer (DRB) in an uplink direction from acommunication device to the base station; and transmitting, by thecontrol plane of the base station to the user plane of the base station,a response message that includes the mapping relationship between one ormore uplink QoS flows and the DRB.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theresponse message includes an indication that indicates that an accessstratum (AS) reflective function is to be used by the user plane of thebase station.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping relationshipbetween the one or more uplink QoS flows to the DRB is determined by thecontrol plane of the base station.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein afirst QoS flow is associated with a quality of service flow identifier(QFI) included in an uplink packet received from the communicationdevice, and wherein the request message is received in response to thefirst QoS flow not having a corresponding uplink direction QoS flow toDRB mapping relationship.
 5. A communication apparatus, comprising: aprocessor configured to: receive, by a control plane of a base stationfrom a user plane of the base station, a request message that requeststhe control plane to determine a mapping relationship between a qualityof service (QoS) flow and a data radio bearer (DRB) in an uplinkdirection from a communication device to the base station; and transmit,by the control plane of the base station to the user plane of the basestation, a response message that includes the mapping relationshipbetween one or more uplink QoS flows and the DRB.
 6. The communicationapparatus of claim 5, wherein the response message includes anindication that indicates that an access stratum (AS) reflectivefunction is to be used by the user plane of the base station.
 7. Thecommunication apparatus of claim 5, wherein the mapping relationshipbetween the one or more uplink QoS flows to the DRB is determined by thecontrol plane of the base station.
 8. The communication apparatus ofclaim 5, wherein a first QoS flow is associated with a quality ofservice flow identifier (QFI) included in an uplink packet received fromthe communication device, and wherein the request message is received inresponse to the first QoS flow not having a corresponding uplinkdirection QoS flow to DRB mapping relationship.
 9. A non-transitorycomputer readable program storage medium having code stored thereon, thecode, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement amethod, comprising: receiving, by a control plane of a base station froma user plane of the base station, a request message that requests thecontrol plane to determine a mapping relationship between a quality ofservice (QoS) flow and a data radio bearer (DRB) in an uplink directionfrom a communication device to the base station; and transmitting, bythe control plane of the base station to the user plane of the basestation, a response message that includes the mapping relationshipbetween one or more uplink QoS flows and the DRB.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer readable program storage medium of claim 9, wherein theresponse message includes an indication that indicates that an accessstratum (AS) reflective function is to be used by the user plane of thebase station.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable program storagemedium of claim 9, wherein the mapping relationship between the one ormore uplink QoS flows to the DRB is determined by the control plane ofthe base station.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable programstorage medium of claim 9, wherein a first QoS flow is associated with aquality of service flow identifier (QFI) included in an uplink packetreceived from the communication device, and wherein the request messageis received in response to the first QoS flow not having a correspondinguplink direction QoS flow to DRB mapping relationship.